The Role of Diagnosis in The Treatment of Sports Injuries

Let's face it: recovering from sports injuries is no easy task. Depending on the severity of the injury, it can take weeks, months, or even years. However, before the recovery process, it is important to ensure that you are treated for the appropriate condition. Accurate diagnosis is a critical aspect of treating and healing an orthopedic injury.

At ExpertJointCare, we treat patients with all ailments from ankle sprains to degenerative sciatica in adults. Essentially, we guide them through the recovery process. Read on to learn why proper diagnosis is the key to effective sports injury treatment.

1. Best deal from the start

After receiving an injury, it is essential to take quick action. The longer that goes without treatment, the more painful and arduous the recovery process will be. When you see a specialist right away, you are guaranteeing much smoother treatment and healing.

If you feel swelling above your foot, it is logical to assume that you have sprained your ankle and rest. However, for athletes who have had ankle sprains in the past, this can actually be an impingement problem. Therefore, the physical therapist or orthopedist will generally have specific advice for each condition. A professional diagnosis in a clinical setting will dictate the correct treatment strategy.

. Rule out related (or unrelated) conditions

While you understand the injury you have, it is equally important to understand what conditions to eliminate. At first, this may seem like a useless way to navigate the treatment process. However, knowing the condition you don't have is actually quite important for a number of reasons.

First, it enables the orthopedist to make a more informed decision about the treatment process. For example, if the orthopedist confirms that your leg pain is not related to a spinal condition, epidural injections will not be part of your treatment.

In addition, it allows the orthopedist to consider conditions that are similar, but not exactly the same. This allows them to think about the symptoms and take a more robust approach to identifying the problem.

3. Avoid dependence on medication

Taking a pain reliever is a common response to detecting abnormally strong pain. As an initial reaction, this measure makes sense. But continuing to rely on medication will only create a problem and certainly does not offer a solution.

Pain relievers do nothing to permanently solve your sports injury problem. Therefore, it is imperative to receive a diagnosis from a qualified orthopedist. Instead of completely delaying the progress of recovery, receiving a diagnosis allows you to be on the right track immediately.

4. Distinguish between standard pain and injury and react accordingly

When you feel like your injury has gone beyond simple pain, you need to act. Peer social pressures may dictate that you should never submit to pain. And while this mantra is helpful in strengthening your resolve, be careful not to take it too seriously.

If you experience severe pain when lifting, jogging, playing soccer, or doing any other physical activity, see an orthopedist. Someone trained to identify injuries will be able to help you distinguish between pain and a serious condition. It's common to feel sore after a strenuous workout, but developing chronic pain is something else entirely.

5. Stretch the right muscles

Orthopedic massage can often play a critical role in helping patients recover from sports injuries. When muscles are affected, orthopedic massage and guided physical therapy can slowly reorient the muscles. In fact, both stretching and massage can restore the muscle's range of motion.

For example, when looking to rebuild neck strength, there are some exercises that are beneficial. One of these exercises involves rotating your head and touching your chest with your chin in the process. However, before the orthopedist can recommend this exercise, it is important to recognize that the problem is the neck. If you are stretching these muscles, when in reality you should be stretching your shoulder muscles, this could be a false path to recovery.

Similarly, it is also important to avoid potentially damaged muscles that may have been affected by the injury. For example, if your ankle muscles are out of use after a foot injury, this is also an important part of the diagnosis that you need to understand. It is essential to take these factors into account and approach them with some degree of caution.

6. Receive appropriate surgery (if necessary)

When orthopedics and physical therapy cannot help you properly regain your range of motion, or the injury is too severe, surgery may be the only feasible option. It seems obvious, but the orthopedist should be sure that surgery is the right course, through a detailed diagnosis.

Fortunately, minimally invasive surgical procedures simplify the process and limit the possibility of injury. With high-tech cameras, surgeons can clearly see the inside of the body on a monitor in real time. With this technology, surgeons can make calculated and deliberate incisions.

7. Prevent recurrence of injuries

The central goal of an orthopedic-focused recovery plan is to permanently eliminate pain. Towards the beginning of the injury, taking pain relievers may be sensible. However, minimizing pain with pain relievers will only be a viable strategy for some time. To resume your standard course of action, you must undergo a full recovery. Orthopedic treatment offers patients a way to achieve this when they receive a proper diagnosis.